After working your way through a spectrum of fruits, you can move on to baby shakes. Baby shakes are wonderful for you and your baby because they are extremely easy to prepare (blending only once for a full day’s feeding), chock-full of nutritional value, easy to digest, and they will fast become your baby’s favorite treat!
There are 3 components to the baby shakes:
1. Fruit. Greens. Fat
Fruit will be the main component of your baby shake, with a sparing amount of greens and a tiny drizzle of high-quality oil to further support brain development. You can get creative with your combinations, but make sure your mixture will appeal to your baby’s palate. Remember, babies like sweet because the human body is programmed to start with fruit!
Use greens very sparingly and be sure they are well blended if you are adding leaves instead of raw juice. Romaine lettuce is an ideal starter green because it blends so well and is highly water-containing. Just make sure there are no unblended chunks large enough to pose a choking hazard.
2. Baby Shake Ingredient Ideas
Fruit*/Organic Leafy Greens*/Fat (small amount)
• Raw pure fruit juice/Raw green juice/Avocados
• Melons/Kale (ripped from the stem)/Udo’s oil blend
• Banana/Romaine lettuce/Flaxseed oil
• Pineapple/Baby spinach/Raw tahini or raw sunflower paste
• Apple/Parsley/Raw nut butters**
• Peach/Alfalfa sprouts
• Orange/Sun Chlorella chlorophyll powder
• Coconut water & young coconut meat
*Fruits and greens should be blended or juiced. Adding carrot juice can help to create the perfect consistency in the blender and appeal to your little one’s craving for sweetness.**Some good options are almond, pecan, or walnut, but NOT PEANUT OR SOY NUT. AVOID STRAWBERRIES AND HONEY, which can be dangerous in the first year.
3. Sample Baby Shake Recipes
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, 1 cup blueberries, handful baby spinach, and 1 avocado. Blend well.
• 2 bananas, water, 2 large leaves romaine lettuce, and ¼ avocado. Blend well.
• ½ honeydew melon, ½ cup green juice, 1 teaspoon Udo’s oil. Blend well.
These shakes are easy to digest, full of enzymes, and so easy for mom to prepare! All you need is a cooler bag to bring the bottles with you and give them to your baby throughout the day. Babies will usually enjoy baby shakes solely until about 14 months, but they can have them forever if desired!
Tip: For easy feeding, simply cut the nipple of your bottle until the opening is slightly wider than is needed for milk alone. Then, fill it with your blended food and give it to your hungry baby! For daily intake, make 40 ounces of blended baby shake or simple melon puree and divide it into five 8-ounce bottles. These will keep in the refrigerator until your little one is ready for them.
